In the prior art, an automatic transmission is installed in an automobile to automatically change gear ratios in accordance with the vehicle speed or engine speed. Such automatic transmission vehicles are popular. Nowadays, as such vehicles, instead of engine vehicles that use an engine as a drive source for vehicle wheels, for example, hybrid vehicles, which use an engine and motor as a drive source, and electric vehicles, which use only a motor as a drive source, and the like are gradually becoming popular.
An automatic transmission vehicle includes a shift lever (selection lever) that is operated when changing the mode of the automatic transmission in accordance with the traveling state (traveling mode). The shift lever can be moved to operation positions mainly corresponding to a parking mode, a neutral mode, a reverse mode, a drive mode, and the like. A hybrid vehicle or electric vehicle may further include an operation position for a regeneration braking mode, which charges the battery with the braking force that the vehicle generates.
In any case, there is a tendency of the so-called shift-by-wire technique being implemented in vehicles to detect the operation position of the shift lever with a sensor and switch the traveling state of the vehicle. Patent document 1 describes a prior art example of a shift-by-wire shift lever device. The shift lever device can be moved in two axial directions, a selection direction and a shift direction. A magnetic sensor detects a magnet arranged on a bottom end of the shift lever to detect the operation position of the shift lever. The shift-by-wire technique detects the position of the shift lever with a magnetic sensor and thus does not require a complicated structure. This simplifies the structure.
In such a shift lever device, for example, a guide groove, which is formed in an upper portion of a housing, guides the movement of the shift lever to each mode position. However, a user may operate the shift lever with excessive force. Thus, to cope with such excessive force, as illustrated in patent document 1, a guide plate including a groove similar to the guide groove is arranged in the housing. This forms a structure that receives excessive operation load with the guide plate.
Patent Document 1: Japanese Laid-Open Patent Publication No. 2007-223384
Patent Document 2: Japanese Laid-Open Patent Publication No. 2004-9903